San Pietro al Monte

Maddie, Mr. Bentley and me

January 2nd, the first excursion of the new year.

Weather was wonderful although there was a strong and cold wind.
At the exit "Civate-Oggiono-Lecco lake" of the highway SS36, you follow for Civate and pretty soon you meet the brown signs directing to "Abbazia di San Pietro al Monte". At a certain point you drive on via del Pozzo. At the hairpin

Lake Annone-Oggiono

bend, the straight, narrow road (at left) becomes forbidden for non-residents. After the curve there is plenty of space to park your car.
Here the hike starts on the residents-only road, signed with trail marker #10. After the last buildings of the village you enter the forest in an area named "Valle dell'Oro" (the reference is not to the precious metal ["Oro" in italian means "Gold"], but it comes from the latin "oris", or water-source, in fact there are some fountains along the path). The path is well kept, paved with stones, and it is very easy, if not for the annoying wind and for being a little out of shape.
At the end you reach a slope a little steeper, where you can already see the walls of the abbey.
Over here you find an incredible place: it looks almost extraordinary that they wanted to build such a building right in this spot.

There are written proofs of the existence of the abbey till IX century, although it looks that it was built much before. The complex is composed by the

Resegone

wonderful St. Peter church and St. Benedict oratory, right next to a meadow that invites you to lay down in the warmth of the sun. Unfortunately, when we arrived, the church was closed (it's open 9 to 12am and 1.30 to 4pm). In the facade of the church there is a beautiful portico that opens on a view of mount Resegone on the left and lake Annone-Oggiono on the right.

From this point the trail follows, uphill, entering the forest again. We, instead, after a stop for some photos, traced our steps down the same path.
One of the first houses encountered going down is an attractive restaurant, "Il Crotto del Capraio" that was unfortunately closed. It looks like one needs a reservation...

Outward:

Time: 1:02

Distance: 2.81km [1.75mi]

Difference of level: 345m [1132'] (364m [1194'] uphill, 19m [62'] downhill)

Altitude: 323m [1060'] to 696m [2283']

Backward (on the same path):

Time: 0:51

GPS track of the excursion.
A: Start point of path #10; B: Crotto del Capraio; C: San Pietro al Monte abbey